Skylight Glossary
The Complete A-to-Z Guide to Skylights for Orange County
Acrylic Skylights – Skylights that are fitted with a plastic sheathing rather than glass, most often bubble domed or pyramid shaped. The acrylic lenses typical come in 3 colors; white, clear, or bronze. Double layer domes are used in most applications because they provide better thermal insulation.
Curb Mounted – Refers to a style of skylight that mounts to a curb on top of the roof deck. Curbs are a box made of 2×4 or 2×6 wood studs that is screwed down to your roof deck and then made water-tight with 3 layers of protection; paper, underlayment and flashing. The skylight sits over top of the curb and is fastened with screws
Deck Mounted – Refers to another skylight style that mount flush with the roof deck to give it a low profile. Often they are used for aesthetics if the skylight can be seen from the ground. But they are more difficult and costly to replace and install.
Diffused Light – Indirect light that has been past through a filter to reduce glare. Solar Tubes or Sun Tunnels use a light diffuser to spread the light evenly around the room, as well as white acrylic domes and frosted glass.
Fixed Skylight – A type of skylight that refers to it’s sedentary nature, meaning it’s fixed to the roof and does not open or vent.
Flashing – Thin sheet metal or aluminum that has been fabricated into a waterproofing system that covers and protects the transition between the skylight and the roof. Different roofs require different flashing systems; ie…Tile roof needs special tile-pan flashing. A shingle roof requires a step flashing system.
Frame – The skeletal structure of a skylight that mounts to the roof and encases the glass or acrylic. Skylight frames are usually made of aluminum because of it’s light weight and ease for transporting on top of a roof.
Glazing – Glass is often referred to as glazing. Skylight glass can vary greatly in it’s makeup and thickness. Velux glass skylights are 5/8″ thick dual laminated glass, where as larger custom skylights often require glass thicknesses greater than 1″, with tempered glass on the top and shatterproof laminated glass on the bottom.
Joist – Joists, or ceiling joists are the parallel wood studs that support the ceiling of your home. Sometimes when installing a new skylight they must be cut in order make roof for the chute of the skylight.
Kynar – Kynar resin is a fluoropolymer coating used to protect metals like steel and aluminum from the elements. We recommend homes in Orange County on or near the ocean to always upgrade to the Kynar finish for custom skylights. This will help protect the frame of the skylite from all the salt in the air.
Laminated Glass – A type of glass that is actually two pieces of glass that goes through a heat treating process that sandwiches the glass together in between a thin layer of vinyl. This makes the glass shatterproof, like a car windshield. Laminated glass is required by code in California as a security measure against earthquakes.
LoE3 – A glass coating that blocks UV light from penetrating the glass. This metallic coating is perfect for skylights because it also helps energy efficiency and reduce fading to fabrics from sun damage.
Pitch – The pitch of a roof refers to it’s angle. Some roofs like a flat roof have no pitch. Domes and pyramids make great alternatives to glass skylights on flat roofs because they allow the water to run off and not pond up.
Rafter – Roof rafters are the parallel wood studs that support the roof of a home. Sometimes rafters have to be cut, doubled up, and mechanical connected with Simpson ties in order to install a new skylight. This is why it’s so important to work with a skylight contractor with hands on experience.
Roof Deck – Homes roof decks are typically constructed of wood, tongue and groove lumber, or plywood. They are the structure that the shingles sit atop of.
Roof Hatch – A door that opens from the interior of the building onto the roof. It’s usually up a chute and accessed through an interior ladder. Commercial & Residential roof hatches also fall into the family of skylight products.
Roofing Material – A waterproof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements. Common roof types across Orange County and Southern California include tile, shingles, shake, composite, and torch-down for flat roofs.
Rough Opening – This dimension refers to the hole of the opening the skylight will sit in. It’s measurement is between the structural lumber and does not include the finishing materials like drywall or wood paneling.
Self Flashing – Another type of skylight, it’s constructed with a metal curb attached that mounts directly to the roof deck. Self flashing skylight domes are popular across Orange County. They are easy to install but the downside is that they are much more difficult and expensive to replace because a new curb has to be built.
Shades – Skylight shades come in a variety of styles, from pleated shades, to exterior shades, or interior blinds. Solar mesh is used to reduce light and UV on skylight domes. Velux offers factory installed blinds, from light filtering to blackout, either manually controlled or operated via remote touchscreen powered by an external solar panel attached to the skylight frame.
Silicone – A synthetic compound made up of siloxane, that is used by roofers and skylight experts to form a waterproof seal. It’s used to seal glass to the aluminum frame on skylights. It’s used to seal cracks and broken glass, holes in the flashing and roof deck from nails or screws, and to help seal flashing systems and skylight frames to the curb.
Tempered Glass – Is another type of safety glass that shatters on impact, breaking into thousands of little shards rather than large dangerous pieces. The outer layer of glazing on a skylight system is typically made from tempered glass, because it is super hard due to the heat treating process it undergoes during manufacturing.
Truss – These structural bearing, rigid frameworks support the load of your structure or home.
Underlayment – A sticky layer of paper that is comprised of tar and other bonding agents that acts as a special waterproofing layer between the skylight and the flashing system. It’s the last line of defense against water leaks.
UV Light – Ultraviolet light is an electromagnetic radiation wavelength that is invisible in the suns light rays. It’s responsible for causing sun damage like sun burn to your skin or fade damage to your furniture from light coming through a skylight without UV protection. Glass skylights offer far better protection from UV light than plastic dome skylights.
Velux – An international skylight manufacturer based out of Denmark with their US headquarters in Fort Mill, SC. They are the USA’s go to glass skylight for anything under 4′ x 4′. They also specialize in skylight accessories like solar powered venting options, solar powered blinds, and other various skylight products.
Venting Skylight – A skylight that is designed to open up and recycle the hot air trapped in the ceiling of your home. They can be manually operated or via remote touchscreen powered by a solar panel attached to the skylight. Velux solar powered venting skylights qualify for a 30% tax rebate off the total cost of the skylight project (material + installation).
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